On October 22, 2010, the Texas Rangers beat the Yankees 6-1 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, and won their 1st Pennant, in their 39th season. On November 1, 2010, the San Francisco Giants beat the Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 of the World Series, and won their 1st World Championship since 1954, 3 years before moving from New York to San Francisco.
On June 12, 2011, the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 105-95 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 31st season. On June 15, 2011, the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, to win their 1st World Championship in 39 years.
On June 11, 2012, the Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils (to my dismay) 6-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 45th season.
On February 2, 2014, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 38th season. On October 15, 2014, the Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in Game 4 of the ALCS, and won their 1st Pennant in 29 years. On November 1, 2015, after losing the World Series the year before, the Royals won it, beating the Mets 7-2 in Game 5, for their 1st title in 30 years.
On June 16, 2015, the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, to win their 1st World Championship in 40 years. On June 19, 2016, the Cavs beat the Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 of the Finals, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 46th season.
On October 22, 2016, the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, and won their 1st Pennant in 71 years. On November 2, 2016, they beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in Game 7, and won their 1st World Series in 108 years.
On October 19, 2017, the Dodgers beat the Cubs 11-1 in Game 5 of the NLCS, and won their 1st Pennant in 29 years. On November 1, 2017, the Houston Astros beat the Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7, and won their 1st World Series, in their 56th season.
On February 4, 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII, to win their 1st World Championship in 57 years. On June 7, 2018, the Washington Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 44th season.
On June 12, 2019, the St. Louis Blues beat the Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 52nd season. On June 13, 2019, the Toronto Raptors beat the Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, to win the franchise's 1st World Championship, in their 24th season.
On October 15, 2019, the Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 in Game 4 of the NLCS, to win their 1st Pennant, in their 14th season in Washington; the franchise's 1st Pennant in 51 years, after 35 seasons as the Montreal Expos; and the 1st Pennant by a Washington-based team in 86 years. On October 30, 2019, the Nats beat the Astros 6-2 in Game 7, to win the 1st World Series for the franchise, and the 1st for a Washington-based team in 95 years.
9. July 25, 2016: Cashman breaks up the Yankees. As far back as the early 1950s, the cry went out among baseball fans: "Break up the Yankees!" But usually when it happens, it's a retooling that works within a couple of years: 1925-26, 1935-36, 1948-49, 1954-55, 1959-60, 1979-80 (sort of), 1995-96, 2001-02 (sort of). Sometimes, it doesn't work: 1964-65, 1981-82, 2003-04, 2009-10.
It didn't work in 2016. On July 25, with the Yankees 7 1/2 games out of 1st place in the AL Eastern Division, and 4 1/2 games out of the 2nd AL Wild Card slot, both still reachable, general manager Cashman traded relief ace Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford.
Chapman made the difference for the Cubs, who won their 1st World Series in 108 years, and then his contract ran out, and the Yankees re-signed him.
Torres turned into a star in 2018, and it certainly wasn't his fault the Yankees didn't win the Pennant in '18 or '19. But neither has he yet helped the Yankees win a Pennant. Warren had already failed as a Yankee twice, and did so again. McKinney played 2 games for the Yankees in 2018, before being sent to the Toronto Blue Jays for J.A. Happ, who hasn't exactly worked out. Crawford has played a grand total of 6 games in Triple-A ball, and, in 2019, had a rather ordinary year in Double-A ball. He's 26 years old. It's time to ask whether he's going to make it.
So even if this trade were a loan of Chapman for Torres and Happ, it still hasn't yet worked in the Yankees' favor.
It got worse: Having already hurt the bullpen by trading Chapman, Cashman wrecked it by trading Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians for Clint Frazier, Ben Heller, Justus Sheffield and J.P. Freyereisen. Miller helped the Indians win the Pennant, and then they lost the World Series to the Cubs.
Frazier has shown himself to have a million-dollar bat, a two-bit glove and a five-cent head. Heller has been dogged by injury, appearing in just 25 major league games. He's 28. Sheffield pitched in 3 major league games in 2018, and then was sent to the Seattle Mariners as trade bait for James Paxton. Feyereisen has spent the last 2 years at Triple-A, where he's been good, but hasn't gotten called up. He's 26, and should have had his shot by now.
And Cashman also traded starting pitcher Ivan Nova to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Stephen Tarpley and Tito Polo. Nova's pretty much been a .500, 4.10 ERA pitcher since 2014, but he still could have helped the Yanks these last 3 years. Tarpley has been a mediocre reliever at the major league level. Cashman traded Polo to the Chicago White Sox while he was still at Double-A.
And Cashman traded slugger Carlos Beltran to the Rangers for Erik Swanson, Dillon Tate and Nick Green. Beltran helped the Rangers win the AL Western Division. Swanson and Tate never threw a pitch for the Yankees: The former was also part of the package for Paxton, the latter part of the package for Zack Britton. Green is 24 and struggled in Double-A ball this season.
So, to review: Cashman essentially traded Beltran, Miller and Nova, and loaned Chapman, for Torres, Happ, Paxton, Britton and Frazier. There is no way we have gotten the better half of that deal in its 1st 3 years. In 2016, the Yankees did not make the Playoffs.
In 2017, Justin Verlander turned out to be available, but Cashman didn't trade for him. He went to the Houston Astros. Who also traded for Beltran. The Yankees reached the Wild Card Game, beat the Minnesota Twins, and beat the Indians in the ALDS, before losing the ALCS in 7 games to the Astros, including 2 games won by Verlander. They went on to win the World Series.
In 2018, Cashman traded All-Star 2nd baseman Starlin Castro to the Miami Marlins for one-dimensional slugger Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees reached the Wild Card Game, beat the Oakland Athletics, and lost the ALDS to the Red Sox, a series in which Stanton absolutely disappeared.
In 2019, when several good starting pitchers wee available, at a time when the Yankees really needed at least 1, possibly 2. Cashman did nothing. The Astros traded for Zack Greinke. But the "Baby Bombers" plan finally began to pay off for Cashman. Finally, for the 1st time in 7 years, the Yankees win the Division. They beat the Twins in the ALDS. And then they lost to the Astros in the ALCS, and the Astros nearly won the World Series again, but lost in Game 7 to the Washington Nationals.
If you're trying to keep score at home: In the last 4 seasons, Cashman has helped 4 different teams -- the Cubs, the Indians, the Rangers and the Astros -- reach 8 postseason berths, win 4 Pennants, and win 2 World Series. Not only have none of these teams been the Yankees, but the Astros have beaten the Yankees in the postseason twice in that time.
How dumb is he?
8. September 8, 2014: Ray Rice's career is ended. Ray Rice had been a star running back at Rutgers University, arguably the best player the 1st college football program had ever produced. He had been drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. In 6 seasons, he had rushed for 6,180 yards, caught 359 passes, scored 43 touchdowns, made 3 Pro Bowls, and helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII. He seemed like a future Hall-of-Famer, and by all publicly known accounts was a good guy.
On February 15, 2014, he was arrested for domestic violence. In spite of the incident, his fiancee, Janay Palmer, went ahead with the wedding on March 28. On July 25, the NFL suspended him for the 1st 2 games of the regular season. Commissioner Roger Goodell was criticized for being too lenient with him. The criminal charges were dropped after Rice agreed to undergo counseling.
But no one would sign him. He entered the 2015 season at 28 years old, a Hall of Fame-quality running back in his prime, with no new incidents, and his victim standing by him. He wasn't signed. He entered the 2016 season saying he would donate his salary for the entire season to charity if he were signed. No one did. In 2018, he admitted that his playing career was over.
The NFL has let its players get away with a lot of garbage. But some -- including since Rice threw that punch -- have gotten away with worse, and returned. It's not a racial issue, because some of those players were also black. The NFL made an example out of Rice, because the situation around him made the NFL look foolish. And if there's one thing the NFL can't abide, it's someone making them look foolish.
There's just one problem: It wasn't Rice who made the NFL look foolish. The League did that to itself.
Let's be honest: Michael Vick actually did time for his horrific crime, and got another chance. Ray Rice has been equally penitent, and we don't have a long stretch of evidence against him, only one moment. But Vick got another chance: He actually played more seasons after his reinstatement, 7, than Rice played before he was charged, 6. Vick got another chance, and Rice didn't. Why?
7. August 17, 2013: The EPL on NBC. For the 1st time, NBC broadcasts the English Premier League. Since the turn of the 21st Century, the growth of satellite TV coverage had allowed international soccer to creep into American homes and sports bars, but it was still slow. The World Cups of 2002, 2006 and 2010 had helped, but it was still slow.
When I began watching the PL in 2008, maybe some Americans had heard of Manchester United, and fewer had heard of the others of what was then called "The Big Four": Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. But throw in names like Aston Villa, Newcastle United and West Ham, and the average American sports fan wouldn't have known what you were talking about.
NBC and its affiliated networks changed that. With Rebecca Lowe hosting in their studio, and getting some of the English announcers who'd been doing the games for years, like Martin Tyler and Ian Darke, Americans began to see the sport the way the natives saw it, and really took to it.
In the 2014-15 season, The Men In Blazers Show, co-hosted by Chelsea fan Michael Davies and Everton fan Roger Bennett (a.k.a. Davo and Rog), kicked it up another notch with their Monday, end-of-the-weekend analysis. It's a kooky, English analysis that was unlike anything seen on This Week In Baseball or Fox NFL Sunday.
L to R: Davo, Rebecca, Rog
But, as big as that is, that's not the biggest soccer story of the decade. Not as far as America is concerned, anyway:
6. July 7, 2019: Epic Rapinoe of History. The U.S. team had won the Women's World Cup in 1999. They had also done so in 1991, the 1st time the tournament was held, but few people noticed. In 1999, it was nationally televised and heavily promoted, and people noticed.
That 1999 U.S. women's soccer team shocked Middle America's ignorant male sports fans, because this was a great women's sports team that wasn't a bunch of stereotypical butch lesbians. They all seemed to look feminine, even attractive. Many of them were married. Some of them had returned to competition after having children.
It would take until 2015 for the U.S. team to win the World Cup again, and this time, some of the women were lesbians, and they didn't give a damn who knew it. In 2019, they repeated. Carli Lloyd, the biggest star of the '15 team, was older and didn't have as much of an impact in '19. She's straight and married. But the best player on the team was Alex Morgan: Gorgeous, straight, married, and, as the year comes to a close, pregnant.
But the unquestioned leader is Megan Rapinoe. Gay, out, with a short pink hairstyle, and well aware of what her performance and example can mean, to men and women, to straights and gays, to supporters and haters. She's supported causes from LGBT rights to Colin Kaepernick's protest. And when establishment figures objected, she didn't care. She pissed off people who deserved to get pissed off.
5. June 26, 2013: The Aaron Hernandez saga begins, highlighting the football concussion problem. Eight days after Odin Lloyd was murdered in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, Aaron Hernandez was indicted for the crime.
At the time, Hernandez was a 23-year-old tight end for the New England Patriots. He had helped the University of Florida win the 2008 National Championship. In 3 NFL seasons, he had caught 175 passes for 1,956 yards and 18 touchdowns. He had played for the Pats in Super Bowl XLVI (but they lost). Although he rubbed a lot of teammates, including Tom Brady, the wrong way, he looked like he had a good future in the game.
More than anything else, including the suicides of former players such as Hall-of-Fame linebacker Junior Seau, the Hernandez case showed what football can do to the human brain. It's a brutal sport, and many of its players are irrevocably damaged, some from the neck up, some from the neck down.
Notable examples of "from the neck down": Johnny Unitas was the greatest passer football had yet seen, yet he died of a heart attack before turning 60. Beyond that, in his last years, he was so arthritic, he couldn't even hold a football. Earl Campbell was one of the toughest running backs ever, but has been crippled by his injuries for years.
Maybe this season, in which the NFL celebrates its 100th Anniversary, should be the last milestone. Indeed, in the years to come, this one may rise on this list.
4. July 8, 2010: The Decision airs on ESPN. LeBron James had played out his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Where would he go? The New York Knicks? The Chicago Bulls? The Los Angeles Lakers? Surely, it would be one of the big-market teams.
(The idea that he would go to one of the "little brother franchises," the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets or the Los Angeles Clippers, was ludicrous. Thanks to Kyrie Irving with the former and Kawhi Leonard with the latter, it is not ludicrous anymore.)
But there was also talk that he would join Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat to form a "superteam." And, yes, Miami is a big market, if not as big as New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.
Jim Gray pitched the idea of a show covering James' choice to ESPN. Interviewing James himself, it was essentially the pregame show for the next phase of James' career. He said, "In this Fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach, and join the Miami Heat."
* Knick fans couldn't figure out why he wouldn't want to play in New York, "The Greatest City in the World," in Madison Square Garden, "The World's Most Famous Arena." (James Dolan was running the Knicks, that's why.)
* Bulls fans couldn't figure out why he wouldn't want to play on the team of Michael Jordan. (Jordan's shadow, maybe? Or maybe the Ohio native was just tired of cold Midwestern weather.)
* Laker fans couldn't figure out why he didn't want to play for, if not the historically most successful (2nd only to the Boston Celtics), then certainly the most glamorous franchise in the NBA.
Did it work? Sort of: LeBron was with the Heat for 4 seasons, and reached the NBA Finals all 4 times -- but only won 2 of them. Then he finished that contract, and went back to the Cavs, and led them to the Finals 4 straight times, all against the Golden State Warriors, but only won 1 of them -- but it was still the title they had waited the team's entire existence for. Then he finished that contract, and went to the Lakers.
The Decision showed that, unlike every other league, the NBA was now player-driven, not coach-driven, owner-driven, or even TV-driven. LeBron was driving TV.
3. 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019: New England gets away with cheating -- again. It had been known since 2009 that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, then with the Boston Red Sox, had used performance-enhancing drugs, and won 2 World Series, and gotten away with it.
By 2013, Manny was gone, but "Big Papi" Ortiz was still with the Red Sox, and -- maybe because of sympathy following the Boston Marathon Bombing at the beginning of the MLB season -- the national media seemed to be hoping that the Red Sox would win the World Series again. They did, and the media named Ortiz the Series' Most Valuable Player. He shouldn't even have been playing, and yet the media chose to not only ignore his crime against the game, but to reward him.
It had been known since 2007 that the New England Patriots, led by head coach Bill Belichick, had cheated: It was known as "Spygate." But their 3 Super Bowl wins of that decade have been allowed to stand. In 2015, it was revealed that quarterback Tom Brady -- this time, apparently not needing his coach to do it for him -- cheated: It was known as "Deflategate." And from that moment onward, the Patriots have been allowed to make 4 Super Bowls and win 3 of them.
Since Belichick and Brady arrived in Foxborough, the Patriots have won 237 regular-season games, made the American Football Conference Playoffs 17 times, won the AFC Eastern Division 17 times, won the AFC Championship 9 times, and the Super Bowl 6 times. And yet, all of this is suspect.
But the NFL, so often cruel with the way they let certain people go, puts up with all of this. Why? I can think of only one reason: It's good for business.
2. September 1, 2016: Kaepernick takes a knee. Before the San Francisco 49ers' last preseason game, quarterback Colin Kaepernick dropped to one knee, rather than stand, during the playing of the National Anthem.
Conservative Americans looked at this biracial, huge-Afroed, well-paid, successful (1 Super Bowl appearance) athlete, and lost their shit. They said he showed disrespect to the American flag, to our troops, and to the nation in general.
Thick as usual, conservative Americans didn't get it at all. Kap said he was doing it to protest police brutality, the (mostly) unpunished murders of unarmed black people by white policemen. On December 24, after the "election" of Donald Trump, he played his last game of the season, and, so far, it has turned out to be his last game, period. It gave a whole new meaning to the term "blackballed."
1. September 30, 2017: "U bum." Donald Trump tweets about whether the recently-crowned NBA Champion Golden State Warriors would come to the White House for an official celebration. LeBron James, whose Cleveland Cavaliers had beaten by the Warriors, had beaten them the year before, and had been beaten by the Warriors the year before that, tweeted back what Warriors captain Steph Curry had already said:
With this tweet, his support of Colin Kaepernick, and his wearing of an "I CAN'T BREATHE" T-shirt during a pregame warmup, LeBron decided that he didn't give a damn whether Republicans bought sneakers too: This was more important than personal profit.
No, LeBron James will never be a better, or a more-achieved, basketball player than Michael Jordan. But he's a better American, and a better man.
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